A bit of trivia: What was the original color and design of the first STOP sign? (Answer at the end of the post.)

Today marks the anniversary of the first set of traffic rules, which, without the vision and foresight of Yale graduate William Phelps Eno, may not have been possible. In 1900, Phelps drafted a paper entitled Reform in Our Street Traffic Urgently Needed, which helped earn him the nickname The Father of Traffic Safety.

But how did Eno, who thought cars were passé, and never took to driving himself, become the innovator of the stop sign, traffic signals, one-way streets, the taxi stand, crosswalks, and so many other traffic-related inventions? In 1867, at the age of nine, Eno witnessed the chaos of a New York City traffic jam.

He wrote of the incident: “That very first traffic jam will always remain in my memory. There were only about a dozen horses and carriages involved, and all that was needed was a little order to keep the traffic moving. Yet nobody knew exactly what to do; neither the drivers nor the police knew anything about traffic control.” He saw a problem, and his creative thinking kicked in. Then he found a way to make it happen.

Although Eno created the first traffic rules years before the invention of the automobile, his insight and persistence helped provide order when it was needed, and set the stage for safety on the road in the coming era of the car. Eno developed traffic plans for New York City, London, and Paris, and was the designer of the circular traffic pattern that famously rotates around the Arc de Triomphe to this day.

According to writer Howard Mansfield, Eno spent most of his life defending his vision and beliefs against those who opposed traffic rules and regulations. Naturally, there were those who resisted the policing of travel, but Eno believed in his mission and continuously forged ahead with creative solutions and innovations. Without the courage, foresight, and determination of this WOW leader, driving to work might be a completely different (and much more dangerous) experience today.

Trivia answer: The first STOP sign was designed in Detroit in 1915 and was a 2-ft x 2-ft
metal sheet with black letters on a white background.

-Sheri Staak